Chikelue Iloenyosi, a former Nigeria international and Chairman of Association of Nigeria Professional Footballers Union, ANFPU, has confidently declared that Super Eagles will always defeat The Elephants of Cote D'Ivoire even if they meet 'ten times'.

'General' Iloenyosi, who is also Chairman of Anambra State Football Association, spoke against the backdrop of Super Eagles 1-0 win over the Elephants in Thursday night's AFCON group A match day two clash despite the home team enjoying greater possession on the night.

Iloenyosi reckons that even if the match is replayed multiple times, Nigeria will still carry the day "because the Ivorians don’t have what it takes to defeat the Super Eagles.

“Honestly speaking, I was one of the people that believed that Super Eagles would win because the Ivoriens don’t have a strong team", the former U23 Dream Team 2 defender told reporters in Abidjan just after the feisty game.

"Even if we replay the match ten times, we will still defeat them. What we needed during the match was the 'god of soccer' to be on our side and thank God we came out victorious.”

On what was responsible for the performance of the Super Eagles compared to their first match against Equatorial Guinea, the former Super Eagles defender said “It is not about the people you are going to play but determination. 

"When we played our first match, if we had won by 1-0,  2-0 or 3-0, when playing Ivory Coast, we wouldn’t have been under pressure because they are already aware that every Nigerian is upset with their first match against Equatorial Guinea.

“Nigerians don’t have patience for failure, that was why they came out as wounded lions to play the match. The worst result we would have gotten in that match is a draw because Ivory Coast cannot win us but the god of soccer was with us hence we were able to win it.

“If we had lost that match, it would have been a disaster for us even if we qualified as one of the best losers, Nigerians don’t have patience for failure, and they wouldn’t forgive you,” he noted.

He however one of the people that believe that the Super Eagles can repeat the feat of 2013 AFCON. He said, 

“I am very optimistic that this is another opportunity for us to lift the trophy because things are looking good. You can see that somehow the team has improved especially in the last game, the strikers, midfielders, defenders, goalkeeper including the players that came into the game as substitutes. They know everybody has criticised and lost hope in them, so they want to gain back the confidence of the fans. And the win against the Ivorians makes everybody happy and starts believing in the team.”

The man who is well-known as the People’s General however commended the present board of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF led by Alhaji Ibrahim Gusau for a yeoman job.

According to him, “The president of the NFF is somebody that has a listening ear. He listens to you to ensure we get things done collectively. But I must give kudos to the NFF because nobody would say they didn’t do well for the Super Eagles. 

The only thing we are praying for is for the team to do well and for the god of soccer to be in our favour.

“I am happy with the good work the NFF Board is also doing especially in this AFCON. You can see how people are rallying around the team. It is not like before when people are divided and the president has also visited the congress members to address them, it shows respect and assurance. He told us that what we need now is prayer from every quarters even though we have done our parts as individuals,” he concluded.